“Unfortunately, I need to listen to the professionals and take some more time out of the game.

“I still have a great desire to play at the highest level and want to make sure we look at every possibility.

“Given the club’s ability to add a player to the list, I wanted to make the call while they still had time to do so.”

St Kilda senior coach Alan Richardson praised Roberton’s resilience.

“Robbo is an incredibly selfless player, and nothing speaks more to that than his want to continue to play on and contribute to our group. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen this year,” Richardson said.

To lose a player of his calibre is no doubt a blow, but as he said to his teammates when he spoke to them today, he has enormous faith in our guys to step up and fill the void."

“The club, our medical staff, coaches and the players will support him through this period and with whatever comes in the future.

“Whether that’s working with the coaching staff again like he did last year, I’m sure Dylan will still play an important role for us in 2019 and be there to support his teammates.”

“We, like him, are hopeful a solution to his condition can be found and we can see him in Saints colours once again.”